Squeak's Surprise

Squeak had a great surprise for us today! Our ultrasounds got moved up from Friday until today, and we got the shock we have been hoping for. She is pregnant! Fifteen days along, and the look on the doc's face when he inserted the ultrasound wand was priceless. She was the second one we ultrasounded, and frankly we did not have any expectation that she was in foal. In my brain, I had made a prediction that HG would be in foal, but Squeak would not.

I got it completely backwards. And that is cool with me. I think Squeak is a prime example of what should be bred--all the regular things are there, like conformation and pedigree, but she also has that elusive intangible thing that is so hard for a broodmare to keep as she ages. She is just nice. She does not fight with others, she is easy to handle, trusts me 100% to take care of her so that even her blindness does not cause her any issues now that she has adjusted--and she has a lot of heart. I just love her. That is what I want to reproduce. I think she will be a good cross with Snorty

Also Squeak is much older than HG, so her breeding years are limited, and HG is young. She has many years ahead of her---and to be tacky, the chute fee to re-breed her next year are less than half the price on Squeak's. So it all worked out for the best. We will draw blood for her progesterone check next week, and hope she will not need to stay on Regumate--its such a pain in the butt. Thank goodness for it though, as the only change this time was three days of oxytocin post-breeding, and Regumate starting at day 5

We also did a heaert beat check on Gypsy and all is well there too.

Yay for all that--this breeding season has dragged out long enough for me.

So you think you can dance?

Last night, when I got home around 8 pm, I went out to help feed, and was treated to a weird happy dance by Squeak. First, she looked like this perfectly normal horse making her way to the dining area.

And then it was on---I can only imagine she was just really excited about dinner.

This next picture is the last time she had all four on the floor for quite some time.
That is a lot of sister up there, isn't it Squeak is my biggest mare--at 15'1" and about 1150 pounds, which is regular size horse for most people I realize. Here it is supersize sister.


Then all of a sudden it was over.

"Oh" she says to me. "I did not know you were here. Did you see my dance?" She looks a little sheepish, doesn't she?
"Yes I did Squeak, I am glad to see you are in such a festive mood on this nice summer evening." says me. She came over to get some loving from me--she likes to be loved on. She also is just blind enough to not realize I was not holding the feed, but whatever.
She wandered off for a while, then remembered what had set her off in the first place and started thundering back to me. To me, this is one of the best things I can see at the farm--Squeak living like a horse, blindness be damned. She is clearly seeing something, as there is no way she could keep from careening off of things if she was not. I love this horse, and am so happy that she has adjusted to living in a herd safely. She makes me smile

Another alternate title for this could have been "Dancing in the Dark". I crack me up.

A short life

Look at that sweet little muzzle peeking out. That is the baby face of Squeak's colt who was born yesterday around 11 am. Although he was foaled without warning, we got there within minutes of his birth.

Good thing too. We did not get to have him long.


This boy was sired by Peppy Plays for Cash. What that translates to is $$$$. As horrible as it is to lose one ever, it is worse to lose one that cost good money to make. And for Squeak to lose one is even worse, as she is an outstanding mother, who needs a baby in her life.
He looked exactly like her.
Getting up was not easy.
But he tried and tried.
Almost there

Woops, he did a header. That would have left a mark. If he had lived.

We struggled getting him to nurse, and I got far more involved in that than I ever had before. I am not 100% convinced that he was all the way right.

We found him dead, for no apparent reason. He did not even live a whole day, we suspect he died in the nite, if not the evening.

Damn it.

It breaks my heart for Squeak, who is handling it really well, although the story of her behavior is an interesting one. When we got to the barn when we discovered him, she acted totally normal. As my panic set in, so did hers...she was as frantic as I was...it was the strangest thing. She had to be feeding off of my energy, because she cannot see enough to matter.

This is the hard part of this business. I know with the number of babies that we have, it is bound to happen, but it sure sucks when it does.

Meanwhile, Gypsy's filly is STILL pooping. I am getting to the end point of how long I can feed her Biosponge---and yet she is still going. She acts like she feels great, and is eating well, which is awesome, but how she has kept from getting dehydrated, I have no idea. I cannot bear another loss right now, we have been hit from every angle lately, and I need to get through this.

What is her deal?

What is that look on her face? She looks troubled.

Do you think that she could tell when I stopped by to check on her during my mandatory lunch hour today that I had a really bad day?

Could she see, even though she is mostly blind, that I had been crying all morning?

Or that I am so frustrated that I cannot concentrate, and my stomach hurts all the time, and now my face hurts from crying? Or that I see no end in sight for any of this?

She looks like she gets it and would make it better if she could. She looks worried about me.

How can it be that an animal who cannot see, can see all that, and the people who are supposed to take care of you can refuse to see?

WOW--Squeak pulled a shocker

You could knock me over with a feather. Today was the last preg check of the season--and a late one at that, as they really should have been done the first weekend we were on our Canada trip. Then it took me a week to get Kevin out to ultrasound for me, since I did not even call til the middle of the week.

He came today at 1 pm, and it was about 100 degrees--we were all miserable dropping sweat on the ultrasound machine, but sure enough--Squeak is in foal! She is bred to Peppy Plays for Cash, 1999 Bay stallion by Playgun. In fact, he is the highest money earner by Playgun, with well over 300K in cutting money earned, and came back out to show this year as well, and doing well for himself.

I have to get out my book, but she should be right around 32 days or so.

This just goes to show you how strange the breeding business is. Her first breeding was picture perfect--some of the best semen we had ever seen, a beautiful follicle that ovulated within 24 hours of her insemination, ideal circumstances. No baby. This second go round was not so good--we had to scramble to find someone to do it as Dr M was at some dental vet thingy, we ultrasounded on a Monday to find that she was open and had about a 25 follicle. First opportunity to get semen here was that Thursday, and we did not even ultrasound her at that time to see where she was. Kevin could tell she was in hard heat by how eaasily he could get past her cervix, and she had not yet ovulated, but no telling how close she was at that time. They sent a LOT of semen, and we were bound and determined to get as much in there as possible, but it was a bit of a circus doing it in the stall, with no stocks, and me trying to pull up more semen in the syringe to push through the tube you use to inseminate--just juggling them all and not ending up with a pile in the floor was surprising to me, but we got 'er done.

He had not brought any HcG (to make her ovulate), but I had some in the fridge that the label had fallen off of--we had no idea how old it was, as it appeared to be a full bottle and I had just bought a new one and used it up already--no telling when that one was made. It is one of those you mix from dehydrated stuff, and it only lasts so long. I used that, and oxytocin every six hours, but by the next day I was a nervous wreck that my HcG was no good, so I got a fresh bottle from him (which is five doses but that is how you have to buy it--effectively pitching the other four doses since it is the end of the season). Shot her right up and them put it out of my mind.

Also when he checked the semen back at the office, it was a little wierd. The first drop he checked was at only 30% motility--I realize it only takes one, but I like it up around 70% plus. I had told him how good the semen was the first time, so he checked another drop on a different slide and it was up around 70% where it should have been. It threw us both that there would be such variety in it, and he was sure the slide he used was in good shape and clean, but not much we could do at that point if it was not great stuff--it was what we had


I knew we would be gone when she needed ultrasounding--on July 5 would have been sixteen days I think. I just told myself there was no way she could be in foal, we would not find out until after the season closed at Center Ranch because we would not get back from Canada til after that---just put it out of my mind.

This is how I came to be so shocked when he checked her today--I told him not to even get the ultrasound out, just palpate her as I was sure she was open. He got almost done and then told me to fetch the ultrasound, he was pretty dang sure she was bred. Shocked I tell you, shocked! Madison was there helping and we were bobbling all around the stall, changing places so we could all eyeball the ultrasound screen---after all that HcG, we were scanning for twins or more, and there does appear to be a tiny cyst next to the conceptus, or perhaps a twin falling apart, but we all voted and decided to believe it is ok. Tango was helping as well, which made Squeak wiggle so it took a while to determine that the heart was actually beating as opposed to Squeak just shifting, but there it was. I swear I thought it was a mirage and at 105 degrees, it damn sure could have been.

But it is NOT, we all saw it, it is there, no doubt about it.

Squeak is going to be a mama!

YAY!

Breeding updates

This not being present for breeding steps makes me a nervous wreck, but it is becoming clear that they do not need me for anything!

Dr M checked Diablo this morning to confirm she will need semen tomorrow, and already confirmed with Buffalo Ranch, so there should be some happy little Highlight Cat swimmers in the air shortly. It is so exciting!

And Squeak has ovulated perfectly, which is good news. This has been such a squirrelly year with some of these mares, and we had not confirmed ovulation on the first two we bred to outside studs, because we were so sure they had and it was more trouble than it was worth on them. We got lucky that all went well with them. Since Squeak is handy and Dr M was seeing Diablo at sleepaway camp anyway, he went ahead and checked her and all is well. Fingers cross that these last two go as easily as the first two did.

It makes me sad to miss it, but there is too much to do to get ready to hit the road for VACATION! and I thank God for the Coogans who are caring for my girls while we are gone. They like Squeak, and laughed when Tango bit them (BAD girl), and they have just the right level of hands on with them, reasonable expectations for behavior and are vey nice people.

Now to get through this dad--get the Equitainer sent back, some prescriptions picked up, a brief finished, etc....we will hit the road after work to run errands and get a room in St Louis for the nite.

Sqeak goes on vacation

Miss Squeak went on vacation today, to this pretty barn.

First thing this morning, she went to the vet to be inseminated. I have to give Center Ranch credit--we did not think she would hold off until Thursday morning when we could get the Peppy Plays for Cash semen. They had some squirrelly business about their counter to counter shipping that made that not a real option, so I was a bit concerned.

Somehow in the midst of that debacle, they just decided to collect him on a non-collecting day and ship me some yesterday, which arrived today. It was fantastic stuff, great motility, aggressive little swimmers. Now lets pray she does her part.

On Tuesday, Squeak had both a a 45 and a 43 follicle. Today she had regressed to a 35 and a something over 40 that is losing its shape--because it concerned Dr M that the second follicle would screw up the progress of number one, and because we had so much semen, he decided to save a dose and do her again today, just in case she takes her time ovulating. He NEVER does that. She was given ovuplant, so surely she will get on it ASAP.

This necessitated the use of a more local facility so she would be handy to him when he can get to her, and I can get on with my life doing something more than driving up and down the interstate and missing work. He had previously suggested this place, which is 15 minutes from him, to use in the event these last two girls needed to be bred while we were on vacation. Might as well start early I guess.

She settled in perfectly and these people know what they are doing. They are not phased by her blindness at all, and I was thrilled to see that within minutes of being settled in her stall, she was perfectly content, as was baby Tango. They complimented both of them, which always makes me feel good.

She will likely be able to come home Friday afternoon, but I am considering leaving her there while we are gone, so that Madison does not have to care for her and any potential problems.
I will decide that I guess on Friday, after she is checked to confirm ovulation....by that time Diablo will be there as well, confirming that she needs her semen shipped on Friday too.

This place may turn out to be a Godsend. They raise TBs, and the state inspector was there while I was there, seeing a baby born last nite. Having them handy to Dr M, makes life so much easier on him, and I may well be able to use them in the future to avoid making multiple trips to get one checked out and bred, etc.


I do know this--when I take Diablo tomorrow nite, I will take many more pics to show the facility, the long legged TB babies, etc.

I had a further adventure today, but it took its toll and I have to go to bed. I will post pics tomorrow, from my visit to the BLM Mustang Adoption Center.

Tango's first turnout

Well this is not Tango, but my pictures will not move like I want them to. This is Squeak, her mama. Because she is currently blind, we had many things to get in order before we could turn her and Tango out for real. I had to get everyone situated in other pastures, so I could open up the middle one for her to be alone and not have to worry about other horses looking at her baby. It is about 5 acres I think. Normally, I would have given her the front pasture, where she is comfortable and knows where things are, but with a baby to chase, I do not want her that close to the road--she would sure end up in it.

Since I was taking pics of the baby, I also got a lot of Squeak, because she distracts me. She is stunning, isn't she? A shame she cannot see herself in a mirror, I think she would like herself.





This is too close to the pasture divider for my taste--but of course that is where Tango wanted to be to see everyone else. Typical. Squeak can see enough that MOST of the time she would not touch the fence, btu the more frantic she got looking for baby, the less she thought and the more she reacted, so she did have a run in or two with it. That lead to taking them off the pasture and giving her the sand pit area, which we lined with corral panels to make even safer.


But before it happened, I got a jillion pics of them playing etc. They are such a pretty pair, just bare with me.



Look, they match! Not quite my regular twins pic, but still cute

You would not know she cannot see, by the way she poses for me, would you?

She is definitely most content when she is right on top of her baby. Touching is best.




You know how babies are though--they get a burst of energy and then the game is on--note her bells flapping--this was taken in a pile of hay with BS standing in front of her--that is what led to the crouch---I cannot wait until she is older and we get this same shot in front of a cow. You cannot tell me the way they use their bodies is not instinctual--you do not see halter horses move like this.


Squeak worked up a good sweat chasing baby--this was very early in the turnout. She will have herself in shape in no time with this little beastie to keep after--


Such a pretty girl, isnt she? I see both her parents in there already. No wonder she is so nice---talk about some concentrated blood. She has Docs Sugs Brudder three times in her first four generations--Docs Haida twice.....that has sure been a magic cross


This is her being careful and picking through the tail end of a round bale.


In the shadow of a tree---FINALLY her bell settled down--in so many of the pics, it is blowing out to the side---she can cover some ground when she wants to. She really wants to.

Look at the dirt blowing up behind her in this takeoff.


This is one of my favorites---


This was very early on--Squeak was chasing her as hard as she could go, and NO she did not hit that fence--she put the turn on in a hurry and got turned around without even grazing it. She learned pretty quickly to use some discipline in her chasing or she would go right through some things---the level of concentration it must take to chase that baby and be aware of where she turns and where she goes, just by listening to the bell, is amazing. But she does it.



I love these girls. I wish they could be out full time and maybe they will be able to eventually, but for now, they are resigned to the sand pit. It is 40 x 70 and plenty big for baby to run---and she gets the sun and fresh air, which is what matters I guess. Not conducive to taking pics like this though.

A solution to a problem

Squeak is a wonderful mother. So good in fact that this being blind as a mother for the first time is scary to her---she does great in the stall where she cannot lose her baby, but she wigged right the hell out when we tried to put her in run-n where she has been perfectly comfortable during her blind period. It did not go well. She can obviously see some things as she can track that kid pretty well, but the more wound up she got, the more she reacted rather than thought. I was afraid she would hurt herself.

Thus, a solution was needed. Having been down this road before with a blind mare, I knew what to do, I just had not gotten to it yet.Could this be cuter, with Squeak all snuggled up to her baby--I swear, it looks like an engagement announcement in the news paper!

Now the bells are all prettily attached to Miss Tango, who hates them about as much as all babies do. She will get used to them though and probably forget they are there by morning. It is all her doing anyway as she flat refused to answer her mother when she would call for her---she would just stand there looking simple and act like a mute. Drove me crazy.

Let's hope this does the trick as well as it did the first time with Goldy.

Relocation for Squeak and Tango

That does not sound that hard, does it? Things are a little different when dealing with one that is blind---while she is normally very easy and trusts us 100%, she freaks a little when she is not right on top of her baby. And you know how babies are----they do what they want, when they want. This one is no different, she does not follow her mama like Squeak would prefer.


Tango does not look that big in this pic of her loping from one side of the barn to an interior foaling stall, does she? I was surprised at this pic.


This one, in their new stall, shows how tall she is---Squeak herself is no shrinking violet, and is my biggest mare at 15 hands or so.

She does not even look like she just foaled--then again, she did not look full term yesterday either. She must hide it better because of her size.




I just like this one. I do not know why.

Its a GIRL for Squeak

And the face markings are BACK! I wondered where they had gone, since we usually have such loud babies and this year there have been several with no markings on their faces at all.


She is a big girl, long legs, sturdy and cute cute cute.

Squeak does great with her in the stall, but wigged a little when they came out for photos---I guess she is not seeing so great today. I am sure she will adjust and will rig her up a little bell system like we did for Goldy a few years ago---it will be fine. The important thing is that she is not spooked by the baby at all--which was my only concern, she knows she is hers and as long as she is touching her, all is well with the world.

Isnt she pretty?

Squeak's Improvement

That it looks like Squeak might be squinting a bit is encouraging to me--maybe she is starting to see a little bit.




Is this series show a happy girl or what? It took her a while to get adjusted to what was happening, and figuring out what that horrid snorting noise was Mel was making to warn folks not to look at her baby, but once she got acclimated, Squeak was one happy sister to be outside in the sunlight. Even if she cannot see it.






Have I already said this? I figured out why Squeak looks so much better, and I think it is because her eyes are not running non-stop now like they were. She came out in the sun this afternoon, to get some fresh air before the monsoons start again. I was TRYING to take filly pics, but got a bunch of good ones of Squeak too.

I am just so glad to see her feeling better. It has been a week since her injections, and there may just be a bit of a reflex coming back in her eye.


She enjoyed her afternoon out, for sure.